130 



THE CANADIAN HORTICULTURIST 



Floral EJdttlon. 



Co-Operation in the Niagara District* 



J. R. Flastings, Winona, Ont. 



IT seems to 'be the prevailing opinion 

 among the fruit growers of the Niagara 

 Peninsula that It has become advIsaWe, 

 if not absolutely necessary to do something 

 —to take some step calculated to bring a 

 measure of relief to the fruit grower and to 

 place the fruit-growing industry on a more 

 satisfactory basis. The question as to 

 whether or not nooperation offers the 

 much-needed relilef, and whether co-opera- 

 tion on an extended scale can be put in suc- 

 cessful operation in the Niagara Peninsula 

 is being much discussed. 



We have in the Niagara Peninsula a num- 

 ber of organizations supposed to he working 

 along cooperative lines. Some of them 

 have not been very successful, through no 

 fault of cooperation, however, but rather for 

 the lack of cooperation as -well as for other 

 reasons. A few have met with a fair degree 

 of success — are bringing to their members 

 results as satisfactory as can be expected 

 under present conditions and methods of 

 marketing and these give promise of greater 

 strength and usefulnes.s. We may here ask 

 if cooperation on a very limited scale and 

 under the most adverse conditions imagin- 

 able brings to its members ibetter results 

 than the average fruit grower is receiving 

 is it not reasonable to suppose that on a 

 jnore extended scale, with greatly increased 

 strength and with the adverse conditions 

 largely eliminated, it will bring added 

 benefits and satisfaction to its members? 



Every man who has given the matter in- 

 telligent consideration admits that better 

 results, financial and otherwise, come from 

 .successful cooperative endieavor than from 

 individual effort. I am speaking now of the 

 average individual, not the man who raises 

 far atove the average quantity of fruit. We 

 have fruit growers who can market their 

 fruit crops to the best advantage, perhaps 

 as well or better than a cooperative, but it 

 ends there. It is the rank and file of the 

 fruit growers we are considering, the sub- 

 merged nine-tenths, the fruit growing in- 

 dustry as a whole. 



The money end should not be the only 

 consideration. Well ordered cooperation 

 will bring to its devotees benefits that can- 

 not be measured in dollars and cents. The 

 man whose mental make-up renders it im- 

 possible for him to average up all the re- 

 sults and remain steadfast and loyal to his 

 organization will never become a good co- 

 operator, and it is doubtful if he should be 

 allowed to enlist under the 'banner of co- 

 operation. He is one of the misfits of the 

 fruit growing ibusiness— he will be con- 

 stantly tempted by the extra cent or nickle 

 per basket that will be dangled before his 

 eyes, probably "by some interest antagonistic 

 to cooperation. 



Benefits of Cooperation. 



What claims then do I make for co- 

 operation? I have in mind, of course, a 

 properly organized company, every detail 

 thoroughily systematized and hammered Into 

 shape and efficiently managed. Whoever 

 heard of such a concern going to the wall? 

 Such organizations do not fail — they live 

 and flourish, or, having served the purposies 

 for which they were created, pass grace- 

 fully and orderly out of existence. 



Successful cooperation will relieve the 

 fruit grower of th« task of marketing his 

 fruit and enable him to igive more attention 

 to other dietails to which he is better 

 qualified to attend. 



An address delivered at the last annual con- 

 vention of the Ontario FruJt Growers' Associa- 

 tion. 



It will give him the best prices for his 

 product that under all the circumstances 

 he is entitled to receive and higher average 

 prices than he could otherwise get. 



It will furnish his supplies of practically 

 all kinds at lower prices than he could get 

 in any other way. 



It will not act as a panacea for all his 

 fruit growing ills, nor will it enable him to 

 eat the bread of idleness, but if he is posi- 

 sessed of a sound mind and healthy body It 

 will stimulate his interest in his work and 

 render less irksome some of its tasks and 

 by so doing will make him a more contented 

 and satisfied man — a better citizen, there- 

 fore a more useful member of society. 



No— it will not of Itself take him to 

 Heaven, but will go a long way towards 

 keeping him out of the other place. Order 

 is Heaven's first law, also one of the 

 cardinal principles of cooperation, hence the 

 fruit grower who attains order is already on 

 his way to better things. 



In some communities, I understand that 

 the man who does not belong to a co- 

 operative organization is not looked upon 

 with much favor by the other church mem- 

 bers, and the banks view him with an eye 

 of suspicion. 



There is not a single detail in the fruit 

 grower's business experience which may not 

 be benefited 'by cooperative effort. It has 

 been said that the training of a child should 

 begin ibefore it is born, and so with co- 

 operation. It should begin its work before 

 the potential orchardist plants his trees, and 

 I do not know of any reason why it should 

 not aid him in the selection of his land. I 

 imagine an organization handling annually 

 a million or more dollars worth of fruit 

 would be a better judge as to the varieties 

 to set out and the land best adapted to the 

 different varieties than the average real 

 estate man or nursery representative. 



Well ordered cooperation would have 

 thoroughly qualified men, part of whose 

 duties it would "be to give advice and guid- 

 ance in all matters, such as planting, prun- 

 ing, spraying, cultivation, picking and pack- 

 ing. The organization would act as a clear- 

 ing house for all details affecting the busi- 

 ness welfare of the individual members. 



And now we ask— is it ipossible to put 

 such an organization in successful operation 

 in the Niagara Peninsula? In my judgment 

 it is practicable. The western end of the 

 peninsula at least offers an Ideal field for 

 the venture but, let me say, that no at- 

 tempt should be made to put such an organ- 

 ization in operation until every detail has 

 been put in perfect shape and the whole 

 structure made ready for the work to ibe 

 done. This will be no easy task and will 

 require the active assistance and support 

 of those men who have had many years 

 experience in the marketing of the fruits of 

 th« district, as well as all other tranches of 

 the industry. There are many problems to 

 solve — many situations to meet — which are 

 peculiar to our particular district and its 

 products and which will have to be dealt 

 with in a special way since there are no 

 experiences that I know of which will be a 

 sure guide for us. 



We will have to work out our own salva- 

 tion. It can be done if the fruit growers 

 feel that they are ready for it. The main 

 thing is to have a fruit growers' organiza- 

 tion, an organization controlled ^by the 

 growers, with the fruit growers in charge of 

 their own business. 

 Two plans of organization have been con- 



sidered — one patterned after the California 

 Fruit Growers' Exchange and a numiber of 

 others already in operation both in the 

 United States and Canada. The California 

 Exchange is, as you know, simply the sell- 

 ing agency for a great many local con- 

 cerns scattered over hundreds of miles of 

 territory— handling the products of these 

 local organizations in car lots to the large 

 centres and mostly on consignment. While 

 this plan might in a measure succeed in the 

 Niaigara Peninsula it is not the one best 

 suited to our needs. 



I ran across an article some little time 

 ago which referred to an organization which 

 had decided to discard the Central Selling 

 Agency as an unnecessary and useless ap- 

 pendix, and I think, if adopted by our dis- 

 trict, we would soon have on our hands a 

 very bad case of appendicitis. 



The nature of our business requires that 

 there must be close connection, a much 

 closer cooperation than in those cases 

 where only car lots are handled and which, 

 to a considerable extent, go to the large 

 centres, much on consignment. 



I would not, for the present at least, sug- 

 gest one organization for the whole Niagara 

 Peninsula. It might be better to consider 

 two organizations — one for the Western end 

 and another for the Eastern — and I do not 

 know of any rea.son why a third could not 

 be organized to include the district from 

 Hamilton to Toronto, and the three work in 

 harmony. 



I have been asked if a growers' organiza- 

 tion, controlling practically all the fruit of 

 the district, should become a reality, what 

 about the dealers who at present are our 

 largest distributors? What about the com- 

 mission men? 



Our dealers, .some of whom are large 

 growers, should become members of the 

 growers' organization and some of them, 

 and all those who are growers, should be 

 as-ked to maintain their present selling 

 organizations and continue to act as dis- 

 tributors operating, however, in strict co- 

 operation with the growers' company. In 

 that event the dealers would get their fruit 

 from the organization instead of from the 

 individual grower, and I know- of no good 

 reason why an arrangement along these 

 lines, satisfactory to all interested, could 

 not be put into effect. 



We have some excellent men in the com- 

 mission business whose services in handling * 

 fruit in the large centres could not well be 

 dispensed with. However, the relation at 

 present existing as between grower or ship- 

 per and commission man would be some- 

 what altered, and in the course of time this 

 branch of the business would come directly 

 within the control of the growers' organiza- 

 tion. 



Some time, when the horizon of the farm- 

 er and fruit grower extends itself, when co- 

 operation has spread abroad over the land, 

 there wSll be in each large centre in the Do- 

 minion a Produce Exchange tmder the con- 

 trol of the producers' organization where 

 farm products of all kinds will be handled. 

 When the fruit growers' organization has 

 once got well on its way, when the leaven 

 of cooperation shall have begun to exert its 

 power and influence, the dealer, the com- 

 mission man. each interest will, without 

 sacrifice, fit into some useful niche in the 

 new order of things. 



Enclosed you will find ?2.00 for my sub- 

 scription to The Canadian Horticulturist up 

 to September, 191S. I always give my copies 

 of The Canadian Horticulturist away, as 

 even after they are a year old they are 

 always useful.— Signed: W. R. Puckey, Coal 

 Creek Mines. B.C. 



